Chapel Hill Town Council voted Monday to develop a website to act as a forum for discussion of the Nov. 13 police raid of the Yates Motor Company Building.
The approval of the website came after the council shelved a request from the community policing advisory committee to provide money to hire a private investigator to look into the police action, which many believed was overly aggressive and violent.
During the November raid, protesters were arrested after Chapel Hill police, armed with assault weapons, entered the abandoned Yates building to remove “Occupy Everywhere” squatters.
At the Jan. 23 council meeting, the council asked Town Manager Roger Stancil to come up with alternative proposals to the committee’s petition to hire an independent investigator, about which council members expressed financial and legal concerns.
The council approved Stancil’s website proposal, which will allow anyone with information about the incident to comment, in a 6-1 vote Monday night. The policing advisory committee has the authority to approve or deny the proposal and submit an alternative.
“If this process doesn’t work for CPAC, they should request a process that does work,” Councilman Jim Ward said.
The committee was tasked at a Jan. 9 council meeting to further review the events of the Yates police raid after Stancil released a review that found police action during the raid justified.
Residents have questioned the thoroughness of Stancil’s report, which relied on testimony of town police and officials.
Chapel Hill resident Jim Neal said he thinks there were glaring omissions from Stancil’s report and a private investigation is needed to provide clarity.